Home Sellers Regret Going it Alone

Written by: Steve Cook   Fri, February 25, 2011 Beyond Today's News, Consumer Report

 

Homeowners who used a real estate professional to sell their homes reported a 50 percent better closing rate than those who went it alone, according to a new consumer survey by HomeGain.

Fifty-nine percent of home owners that used a real estate professional to sell their home were successful vs. 39 percent of for-sale-by-owners, reflecting a 50 percent higher closing rate for those home sellers using a professional.Eighty-one percent of homeowners that used a professional to try and sell their homes said they would use a professional again for their real estate needs.

HomeGain found that 17 percent of potential sellers would try to sell their homes on their own, a significantly higher number than the 9 percent market share for FSBOs reported in the National Association of Realtors’ 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. 

FSBO rates as measured by the NAR Profile over the years has fallen from 14 percent of sales in 2003 to 9 percent last year.  However, the HomeGain data may not represent a rise in actual FSBO transactions.  The NAR study measures actual transactions after they close, while HomeGain surveyed the intentions of homeowners who had not yet put their homes on the market.

In fact, HomeGain found that 24 percent of FSBO sellers eventually enlisted the aid of a real estate professional to help sell their homes.   Only 71 percent of FSBO sellers who managed to sell their homes on their own said they would try and sell their home on their own again.

“It is especially striking that homeowners fare significantly better in selling their homes using a real estate professional than selling on their own.” said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain. “Due to that relative success, the level of satisfaction in the home selling process is also higher for home sellers utilizing the services of a REALTOR® than those who try to sell their homes on their own.”

2 Comments For This Post

  1. Susanne Novak Says:

    As real estate agents we always knew that this was the case. It’s great to see proof from 2 different sources. It is just too frustrating to sell a house by yourself in this market.

  2. buy gold Says:

    REALTOR survey and found that home sellers fare 50 percent better in getting their homes sold when using a REALTOR than those who went at it alone..Additionally 88 percent of homeowners that used a REALTOR to sell their homes said they would use one again compared to 71 percent of home owners who sold their homes on their own who would use the same method in the future.. It is especially striking that homeowners fare significantly better in selling their homes using a REALTOR than selling on their own said Louis Cammarosano general manager of HomeGain. Due to that relative success the level of satisfaction in the home selling process is also higher for home sellers utilizing the services of a REALTOR than those who try to sell their homes on their own. .HomeGain surveyed more than 1 000 homeowners for this report conducted from February 7-15 2011..To see the complete survey results ..

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